Clarksboro, New Jersey's Daniel Smith, sometimes known as Brother Danielson, is the leader of this musical congregation. Devoutly Christian, Smith has over the years enlisted various members of his family to be a part of his musical projects. Sometimes known as the Danielson Famile, or the Danielson Family, these projects have consisted of not only Smith's nuclear family, but a greater musical community that has included members of Deerhoof, Sufjan Stevens, and Why?. On Smith's record Ships, some 20 different collaborating musicians supplied instrumentation and arrangement to songs written by Smith. God and the Holy Spirit are frequent topics of Smith's music, as are costumes and other crafty elements, many of which are meant to manifest his Christian faith in the physical realm. However, unlike many devout Christians in the music world, Smith often opts for eccentric, psychedelic and atonal musical elements (particularly Smith's voice), which blur the easy assumption of religious puritanism. Danielson fans are known to be passionate and very diverse in their beliefs; a documentary film Danielson: A Family Movie depicts his broad-based audience and the conception of Smith's band and music.
